Action on a proposed Minnesota Vikings stadium bill has slowed in the Capitol since the measure stalled in a state Senate committee last week. Key lawmakers say they’re waiting on word from the Minneapolis City Council and charitable gaming interests before they can move forward.

Rep. Morrie Lanning, R-Moorhead, the bill’s sponsor in the House, said Wednesday, March 21, that lawmakers need a letter of support signed by a majority of the city council for the bill to get beyond one committee in the House.

He said he hasn’t set a deadline to hear from the council but “if this drags on beyond this week,” there will be “serious problems.”

Lanning said he also is waiting for a counterproposal from charitable gaming interests to the offer made by Gov. Mark Dayton of $10 million in tax relief.

A spokesman for King Wilson, executive director of Allied Charities of Minnesota, confirmed a counteroffer is in the works but said he wasn’t sure when it would be proposed.

In the Senate, stadium bill sponsor Sen. Julie Rosen, R-Fairmont, has talked briefly with Local Government and Elections Committee Chair Ray Vandeveer, R-Forest Lake, about bringing the bill back before the committee, where it was heard but not voted on March 14, according to an aide.

But “Rosen has not requested a hearing yet; she is waiting until the Minneapolis City Council letter arrives and there is an agreement with charitable gaming,” the aide said.

More than 1,200 nonprofit groups around the state offer paper pull-tab games in bars and restaurants to raise money for local school and civic causes.

The state’s $398 million share of the stadium package is to be funded with tax revenue from an electronic version of those games, which Dayton has said would yield $72 million per year.

The governor has proposed $10 million of that go to reduce charities’ tax burden, but Wilson has said it needs to be more to prevent some charities from winding up in worse financial shape.

The bill’s first stop in the House is likely to be the Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee, chaired by Republican Rep. Joe Hoppe of Chaska. Hoppe said Wednesday that he wasn’t sure when the bill would be heard, but “the short answer is soon,” perhaps as early as Friday.

Hoppe said committee members are concerned about state general fund money being tapped if electronic pull-tabs don’t produce enough money, and also about the impact on charities.

He said he won’t require a firm commitment from the Minneapolis City Council before hearing the bill in his committee.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, said Wednesday that he wasn’t aware of any stadium meetings going on in the Senate. Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said lawmakers are looking for an indication of support soon from Minneapolis.

Dayton has been meeting with members of the council this week to make his own pitch.

Minneapolis City Council President Barbara Johnson and Mayor R.T. Rybak’s office did not return calls Wednesday for comment on the status of stadium-related efforts.

The $975 million stadium is proposed for downtown Minneapolis at the Metrodome site. Along with the state’s $398 million, the Vikings would chip in $427 million and Minneapolis would contribute $150 million from taxes that now go toward its convention center.

The team hopes to play its first game in the 65,000-seat stadium in 2016.

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